Neighbors oppose Testo's zone change

Updated 5:33 pm, Saturday, February 25, 2012

William and Ester Becker, of Bridgeport, protest in front of Testo's Restaurant, on Madison Ave. in Bridgeport, Conn. Saturday, Feb. 25th, 2012. Mario Testa, the restaurant's owner and Democratic Town Committee Chair will be asking a zoning board Monday for approval to change the land his restaurant sits on from a residential zone to an office/retail zone. less

William and Ester Becker, of Bridgeport, protest in front of Testo's Restaurant, on Madison Ave. in Bridgeport, Conn. Saturday, Feb. 25th, 2012. Mario Testa, the restaurant's owner and Democratic Town Committee ... more

State Representative Jack Hennessy leads a protest in front of Testo's Restaurant, on Madison Ave. in Bridgeport, Conn. Saturday, Feb. 25th, 2012. Mario Testa, the restaurant's owner and Democratic Town Committee Chair will be asking a zoning board Monday for approval to change the land his restaurant sits on from a residential zone to an office/retail zone. less

State Representative Jack Hennessy leads a protest in front of Testo's Restaurant, on Madison Ave. in Bridgeport, Conn. Saturday, Feb. 25th, 2012. Mario Testa, the restaurant's owner and Democratic Town ... more

BRIDGEPORT -- For the second time in just over two years, North End residents are gearing up to oppose a zone change for a Madison Avenue restaurant owned by the city's Democratic Town Committee chairman.

DTC Chair Mario Testa's request for a change of zone for the Testo's restaurant from the restrictive Residential-A single-family designation to a commercial, or OR-G zone, will be discussed Monday in City Hall by the Planning and Zoning Commission, the same commission that denied Testa's request in late 2010. The meeting will begin at 6:45 p.m.

If the change is granted Monday, Veronica Schuab said her husband, Weverton, has decided he would likely sell the Madison Avenue home he has owned since 2006. Schuab, 22, said she is worried the zone change would open the door for other businesses to move into the neighborhood.

She moved to Bridgeport last year when she got married, despite having grown up with a bad impression of the city.

The former East Haven resident said she's come to like the quiet North End neighborhood -- except for the weekends and evenings when large events are held in Testo's banquet hall and customers take up every available street parking around her home.

"It's insanity," said Schuab, 22. "The whole street is packed with people. They don't have enough parking. I try to have people out here on the weekend and they have to park super far away."

Part of the application submitted by Testa, who did not return calls for comment, includes a plan to demolish the single-family home he owns on Madison Avenue next to his restaurant property to make room for 12 additional valet parking spaces.

Dorcas White, a Russo Terrace resident, said the plan gives residents one more reason to dislike Testa.

"He has been harassing us since 2005," she said. "He has made no attempt to meet with the neighborhood at all or show any respect. None whatsoever. His attorney met with us once, but it was only for what he wanted."

Testa was granted approval to construct his restaurant at 1775 Madison Ave. in 2005, a year after the former Three Door Restaurant, was demolished. Shortly after the restaurant opened, neighbors and members of the P&Z complained that the building was built larger than approved and was too close to the homes behind it on Russo Terrace.

Two years later, neighbors again raised concerns about additional parking created on the northern part of the restaurant lot, abutting several homes. Because of the restrictions in the single-family zone, Testa has had to go back before the zoning boards for permission for most changes on the property.

State Rep. Jack Hennessy, D-Bridgeport, who is helping residents organize a protest in front of Testo's at 1 p.m. Saturday, said changing the property's zone would amount to spot zoning. "Once that property gets the zone change, anything can be placed there," he said, noting that for this reason the city's design review coordinator, Diego Guevara, has recommended that the board not grant the change.

The commercial zone Testo's is requesting allows stores, group living facilities, apartment buildings and other commercial structures on the site by right. Other uses, including vehicle repair facilities and office buildings, would be allowed with a special permit.

But, in a lawsuit appealing the P&Z's denial two years ago, Testa and Ralph Giacobbe, restaurant co-owner and chef, claimed the residential zone affects their ability to "obtain sufficient financing for its utilization of the property."

The suit stated that if more than half the building were to suffer damages in the future, the owners would lose their right to operate a restaurant in the residential zone.